Revenge of the Anime Nerd
by Nymphadora-CullenBAU
Summary: People are dying at an anime convention in Minnesota. Can the team catch the killer? Will they lose on of their own? Death Fic Challenge entry. Assigned character: Aaron Hotchner. WARNING FOR CHARACTER DEATH.


**_Hello! Yes, sorry... I know I was gone for a long time. Let me explain: It was... real-life stuff. School, medical, physical, mental. I was in a drug trial, dropped a class, didn't have enough credits to graduate, had liver problems, was depressed, diagnosed with an eating disorder and optic nerve swelling... I could go on but you don't want to hear about all that!_**

**_Anyway, this is my entry for the Death Fic Challenge. I was assigned Hotch... I hope you like his death. I sort of wrote this in about an hour, hour and 15 minutes... It's not quality, but it's alright (I think)._**

**_Once again, I do not own Criminal Minds, or anything else mentioned here (Anime conventions in Minnesota, DoubleTree Hotels, Doctor Who...). Enjoy!_**

* * *

Aaron David "Hotch" Hotchner was 47 years, six months, two weeks, five days and 21 minutes old when he went with his team to an anime convention in Minnesota to stop a killer who was tormenting con-goers. The victims, three women and four men, had been stabbed and shot with a silenced gun.

Most of their work was done at the police station, where the BAU team figured out that the UnSub, though most likely a local to the area, was staying in the hotel with other con-goers.

"That hotel is his killing field," Garcia had explained. "He wouldn't leave it for anything."

It took them a while to figure out what could be going through the UnSubs's head, but they realized what their killer's method was when they examined the victim's effects.

"These costumes," Reid explained. "They aren't anime characters. They aren't from any sort of popular manga."

"Sorry?" Hotch asked.

"Anime is the short form of 'animation,' and has only recently become a mainstream word," Blake continued. "Magna is another version of that word."

"I think this UnSub is a purist," Reid continued. "This convention is welcoming cosplayers from all different fandoms. Not just Japanese Manga anime, but TV shows, books, movies…."

Garcia's image on the computer screen nodded. "All the victims were cosplaying characters from fandoms of non-manga origin," she added. "Disney movies…"

"Saturday Morning cartoons," Morgan added.

Reid picked up a photo. "British television shows like Doctor Who…"

"BBC Sherlock and Torchwood," Rossi added. "What? I met John Barrowman. Great guy. And Benedict is a nice guy too; I met him at the screening for Star Trek I took Reid to last month."

"The point is," Blake continued. "We know who he's killing and why…. But how do we stop him?"

The answer came the next day.

"I found a guy," Garcia began. "Luke Thomas, 32. He's an active cosplayer, and has been to oodles of conventions. But he's been reported or kicked out of seven of them in the past two years because he kept hassling cosplayers."

"How so, Garcia?" Reid posed.

"He told them that they weren't the right body type for their characters," she began. "I really don't like it when people do that. If you like that character and want to cosplay as that character, you have every right to do that in my humble opinion."

"What else Garcia?" Hotch asked.

"Well…" She hedged. "He attacked a few cosplayers for 'their lack of purity.' Apparently they were dressed up as Harry Potter characters; one little boy went to the hospital and needed stitches. Luke Thomas was banned from that convention and escorted from the premises later that day."

"Is he here now, Garcia?" Rossi called.

"Yessir. He's in the DoubleTree, Room 404." She finished typing and hit SEND. "And you just got all his information emailed to you. Now Allons-y, my pretties!"

"Let's go," Hotch ordered.

….

It didn't take long for them to find Luke Thomas. He'd followed a lonely Doctor Who cosplayer (Reid, working undercover as a Fourth Doctor cosplayer, had identified the character as River Song) and they'd followed the two into an empty bathroom. Luke Thomas was now brandishing a knife at the victim, who was backed up against a wall with her hands buried in her large curly hair.

"Luke Thomas, FBI!" Hotch yelled. Luke turned away from the cosplayer, aiming his knife.

"What do you want?" he shouted. "You filthy pests. You aren't even actual characters! It's called an anime convention for a reason!"

As he spoke, Reid crept around the other side of the bathroom to the victim, who quickly embraced him and started sobbing into his shoulder. Luke turned at the sound of his victim crying and brandished his gun. "Let's see you regenerate, Time Lord," he taunted pulling his gun from his holster and aiming at Reid and the cosplayer.

"Good luck hitting a bulletproof vest," Hotch shouted, leaping at the UnSub to protect his agent. He tackled Luke, throwing him to the ground. But what Hotch hadn't intened on was his UnSub raising his arm to defend himself. The arm that still held the knife.

After today, Luke would get three consecutive life sentences for the deaths he'd caused, plus the murder of an FBI agent. He would also be banned from yet another anime convention. The cosplayer, named Melody Kingston, would eventually become penfriends with Spencer Reid.

Aaron David "Hotch" Hotchner was 47 years, six months, two weeks, five days and 21 minutes old when he was stabbed in the neck by Luke Thomas at an anime convention. He bled out on the bathroom floor.

* * *

_A/N: Yeah... Sorry it's so short. I literally just wrapped school a week ago and moved back last weekend. Now I'm getting ready for a summer class and a summer musical... At the same time, which is no fun, because it's eating all my free time. Plus I need to arrange some job shadows, sort through college... And my mom resigned from her job! Which is a good thing for her, more power to her... But she couldn't have picked a worse time._

_Okay, enough of my whining! Review, favorite, *points downward* ...JOHN HURT IS WHAT! REALLY? MOFFAT! *collapses*_

_Later, loves!_

_*~N_CBAU~*_


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